Max Williams Exits Corrections

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Oregon Department of Corrections

Max Williams is leaving his position as the director of Oregon’s Department of Corrections after eight years on the job. In February, he’ll officially take on the role of president at the Oregon Community Foundation. Williams has seen the department through many a harrowing budget cycle, even as the state’s prison population continued to grow. Governor Kitzhaber’s recent decision to stop executions in the state during his time in office meant Williams did not have to oversee Gary Haugen’s lethal injection, something Williams has said he did not want to do.

Before he was appointed to lead the Department of Corrections, the Bend native practiced as a lawyer and later, served as a Republican state legislator. He says he’s looking forward to serving the mission of the Oregon Community Foundation, which is to “improve life in Oregon and promote effective philanthropy.” While he says he will be sad to leave the Department of Corrections, Williams pointed out that at his new job, “there will be bad days, but it probably won’t involve shots being fired or life-or-death situations.”

Do you have a connection to the Oregon Department of Corrections? What would you like to ask Max Williams?